A presentation of the Illinois Statewide Technical Assistance Collaborative (ISTAC). All rights reserved.

Trauma Informed Practices: NEUROSEQUENTIAL

MODEL IN EDUCATION

Facilitated/Presented by:

Sarah Van Aken & Mandy Waggoner of ISTAC &

Carli Jones of SEAPCO

August 2015

Welcome & Housekeeping

Illinois Statewide Technical Assistance

Collaborative The Illinois Statewide Technical Assistance Collaborative (ISTAC) is funded by ISBE using federal IDEA Part B discretionary grant dollars to be a model of integrated technical assistance for families and school districts.

Illinois Statewide Technical Assistance Collaborative

Core Purpose (Why We Exist) To support and empower educational entities to create and sustain positive outcomes for each and every student.

Foundational Structure (How We Work) ISTAC strengthens leadership skills and systems through:

• A MTSS framework of systems development. • Data driven-informed decision making within

a continuous improvement cycle. • Strategic partnerships. • Technical assistance, coaching and training.

Today’s Agenda ◆Welcome! ◆ Introduce Illinois NME Pilot ◆Overview of NME model in

education ◆Developing a system of support ◆ ISTAC Plan ◆Questions & Answers ◆Next Steps/Closing

Training Outcomes We want you to walk away from today being able to: ● Describe the work being done with

trauma in Illinois through the NME Pilot project as well as describe ISTAC’s role in providing district support with NME model.

● Discuss the core components of the NME lens and examples of the NME lens being applied.

● Determine the need and appropriateness of the NME lens for your current district priorities.

● Identify next steps for your district in work around trauma.

Intentional Connections

• Related to district improvement. • Aligned to your performance as an educator.

• Aligned to Illinois Professional Leader Standards.

• Aligned to Illinois Professional Teaching Standards.

Purpose: • Sets a norm for participation.

• Focus mental energy inside the room.

• Allows people to connect with one another.

• Moves us from an aggregate of individuals to a group.

Inclusion Activity

1+1+1= ? 1 ...Curiosity about how understanding neuro-development is critical in creating optimal learning environments for all students 1 ...Unique circumstance about your district that might make this a valuable framework 1 ...Burning Question that you want to have answered today

Overview of Illinois NME Pilot The background

The beginning

● Relationship and interest formed with Dr. Bruce Perry and Child Trauma Academy (CTA)

● A missing piece in Illinois support ● First state to work with CTA on a statewide

level

Illinois Trauma-Informed Practices Pilot

● 9 Districts and community agencies connected

to those districts across the state ● Array of district staff in learning groups ● Completed NME Basic level of training

Illinois Trauma-Informed Practices Pilot Outcomes ● To build district capacity in understanding of

trauma and its impact; ● To build local capacity to provide AREA-wide

training on trauma and its impact; ● To build local capacity in the utilization of the

Evidence-based practices of the NME and NMT; and

● To build local capacity to provide AREA-wide training on NME and NMT.

Overview of Neurosequential Model in Education

Framing Today’s Learning

DSM Diagnosis

Overlapping Symptoms Trauma

Attention Deficit/Hyperact

ivity Disorder

Restless, hyperactive, disorganized, and/or agitated activity, difficulty

sleeping, poor concentration, and hypervigilant motor activity

Child Trauma

Bipolar Disorder Hyperarousal and other anxiety symptoms, mimicking hypomania, traumatic reenactment mimicking

aggressive or hyperarousal behavior, and maladaptive attempts at cognitive

coping mimicking pseudo-manic statements

Child Trauma

Major Depressive

Disorder

Self injurious behaviors as avoidant coping with trauma reminders, social withdrawal, affective numbing, and/or

sleep difficulties

Child Trauma

Psychotic Disorder

Severely agitated, hypervigilance, flashbacks, sleep disturbance, numbing

and/or social withdrawal,, unusual perceptions, impairment of sensorium

and fluctuating levels of consciousness

Child Trauma

Defining the Neurosequential Model in Education

IT IS: a developmentally-informed, biologically-respectful approach to working with at-risk children; It is a different way to organize and really SEE a child’s history as well as current functioning in order to understand their behavior.

IT IS NOT: a specific therapeutic technique or intervention, although many excellent strategies are used; it is the difference between a map at a roadside park and an electronic navigation system with all that that entails...

What is the Neurosequential Model?

The Neurosequential Model in Education is a research based platform behind the installation of systems that create environments that foster safe learning for youth that have experienced trauma and its consequences. If education is based on neurological developmental levels, then children can learn and thrive in school, rather than fall farther behind.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

The ACE Study is ongoing collaborative research between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA, and Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, CA. It examines the link between experienced childhood traumas and subsequent ailments and conditions in adulthood such as chronic diseases, depression and other mental illnesses.

ACEs Abuse (emotional, physical, sexual) Domestic Violence Neglect Divorce Alcoholism/Substance Abuse-Use Depression/Mental Illness Incarcerated Chronic Poverty

What is the Neurosequential Model?

Our brains develop from the bottom up…as children develop, beginning in utero, outside influences create changes in the developing brain cells.

Our brain stems develop first, with our most critical regulatory systems- circulatory, respiratory- survival systems. (ANS- autonomic nervous system) Development continues up through our limbic system and upward into our brains’ centers for more advanced reasoning.

Core Elements of Positive Developmental, Educational, and

Therapeutic Experiences

• Relational (safe)

• Relevant (developmentally matched)

• Repetitive (patterned)

• Rewarding (pleasurable)

• Rhythmic (resonant with neural patterns)

• Respectful (child, family, culture)

The NME Lens…

Using NME as a foundation for service delivery, all people who work with children potentially impacted by trauma can begin to see these children as what they are: Children.

How do we interpret what we see?

The ChildTrauma Academy www.ChildTrauma.org BruceD. Perry,MD, Ph.D.©2010

A student does not sit still, does not pay attention, overreacts to criticism, and gets into fights with other students.

A teacher’s response should focus on:

A. Discipline B. Mental Health C. Child Trauma

The ChildTrauma Academy www.ChildTrauma.org BruceD. Perry,MD, Ph.D.©2010

Know the Stage and Watch the State

• Effective adult interactions to teach, enrich or heal young children comes when the developmental stage and present state of the child are respected • Attunement becomes the key • Core principles of development should be central educational objective for caregivers and educators of young children

All rights reserved © 2007-2015 Bruce D. Perry

Teachers are Not to Blame for Dysregulation

Neither teacher nor child caused the dysregulation, but both will pay for the results - unless the classroom is crafted with developmentally targeted strategies.

Triune Brain Theory

Neocortex(Cerebrum) – forward thinking, able to reason the way through negative stimuli

Limbic – mediates emotions and memory, receives sensory information...may be the area where emotions start to rule and influence behavior...

Reptilian -- Fight or flight!! Once downshifting has gotten to this level, it will take time to move back up to cognitive processing.

All rights reserved © 2007-2015 Bruce D. Perry

Consider the Stage Teach to the stage- the neurodevelopmental stage. Not the chronological age. Consider the 3rd grader with the developmental status of a 7 year old. Imagine the consequence of failing again and again because as a 3rd grader, these are skills that should be in place.

Consider the State Now imagine that 3rd grader is getting ready to take yet another spelling test. Knowing that they do not know how to spell the words the teacher is reading, the student may refuse to clear their desk or they may become further dysregulated and go further into fight or flight…and in fight or flight, they downshift through those neurosequential layers that developed in utero, and begin to become less and less able to deal with their environment.

Learning is State Dependent Dysregulation is directly correlated to increasing achievement gap for individual students over time. If the dysregulation is chronic, the student loses more and more “chunks” of the information over time and falls further and further behind. Dysregulation is the enemy of ongoing development, learning, and ultimately, the child.

Would you recognize these states of arousal for adults?

Would you be more likely to interpret them as a response to stress or as a maladaptive

behavioral response?

Think about how learning is state dependent for adults: How well do you function when anxious or alarmed?

Quality of work - Memory - Communication –

Conflict resolution

System of Support Developing a

SYSTEM OF SUPPORTS A systemic approach that builds a district’s capacity to improve outcomes for ALL students through implementation of Evidence Based Practices (EBPs) delivered through a Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS), using Response to Intervention (RtI) logic.

Selecting New Practices/Processes

Answer the following questions: • Why are you choosing it? • How might you use it? • How will you know it is working?

Why are you choosing it?

• What data is telling us we may need to consider trauma informed practices?

• How does NME model fit within our vision and priorities?

How will we use “it”?

• How might trauma informed practices fit within our current support structures?

Key Idea: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3

Three tiers in the MTSS support structure:

• Tier 1: Primary/Universal supports focused on Prevention • What ALL receive in the form of academic, social,

emotional, behavioral & transition supports.

• Tier 2: Secondary/Targeted supports focused on Early Intervention • What SOME receive in addition to Universal supports.

• Tier 3: Tertiary/Individualized supports focused on Intensive

Intervention • What FEW receive in addition to Universal and Targeted

supports.

Key Idea: Supports & Interventions Core Features Supports and interventions are organized along the continuum based on their core features.

Focus on Individual Needs High Intensity

High Efficiency Rapid Response

Increased Instruction & Practice

Preventive & Proactive

Capacity Building Focus Areas To increase the likelihood that implementation will sustain, consider the whole system in four primary areas: Professional Development Coaching Evaluation Content Expertise

Professional Development Coaching Evaluation Content

Expertise

Building Fluency Train and Hope “Training by itself does not result in positive implementation…or intervention outcomes” (Fixen, Naoom, Blasé, Friedman, & Wallace, 2005, pp.. 40-41).

Train and Coach Joyce and Showers, 2002 • Training alone

0% classroom application

• Training + Coaching 95% classroom application

How will we know it is working?

MTSS & Continuous Improvement A MTSS framework uses a continuous improvement process that includes: (a) defining the problem (b) identifying the problem (c) developing and implementing a plan (d) evaluating the results of plan implementation.

This Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) is a continuous improvement cycle that keeps moving us closer to optimal support for our students.

SEAPCO Example

CO-OP PARTNERS SEAPCO

Not just one more thing!! It really is about looking at the child through a different lens….

Monthly meetings let staff share ideas and strategies.. this will improve utilization of the strategies over time...

understanding where a child is developmentally…. we need to look at what we’re doing and back up to the stage wher the student is at….NME gives us permission to do that!

NOT a prescribed program....ratherinformation and strategies...

the information explained many of the behaviors and responses of students we work with...

SEAPCO NEXT STEPS…

** The NME group will start the book study of “The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog” in the fall ** NME is going to be presented to ALL Peoria Count Superintendents at a SEAPCO board meeting! ** Breakout sessions will be provided to staff at Teacher Institutes **NME participants will be surveyed regarding their participation to ensure the quality of the training remains high

What’s next?

ISTAC Plan

● Trainings with follow-up technical assistance on NME basic will be provided regionally and open to all districts

● Posted on MTSS-Network (www.istac.net)

training calendar

Ideas for you

● Take information back to District Leadership Team ○ Analyze need in your district ○ Determine fit within your district ○ Identify staff and plan for supporting

Wrapping-up

Turn to your shoulder partner: Identify two (2) key ‘new’ ideas you have learned from this session. What will be your next steps related to those ideas?

Resources

ISBE www.isbe.net

ISTAC http://www.istac.net/

Child Trauma Academy: http://childtrauma.org/

ACEs http://www.acestudy.org/ace_score

Contacts Michele Carmichael mcarmichael@isbe.net Mandy Waggoner mandy.waggoner@istac.net Sarah Van Aken sarah.vanaken@istac.net Carli Jones cjones@seapco.org